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Every once in a while, a movie comes along that’s just pure entertainment, movies like Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting. On November 2nd, 2007, another one was released, going by a rather catchy title, American Gangster. This movie isn’t moving, it isn’t emotional. This movie is all about just plain entertainment. If you haven’t already seen the bootleg, then you may not need this review. However, this isn’t stopping me from contributing to this blog!

The story itself was based on the real life events of Frank Lucas in the 1970’s, a druglord who found a rather ingenious way to beat out the competition. It also follows the story of a cop named Richie Roberts, who’s an adulterous officer who was given his own special forces unit to crack down on the drug problem, not by capturing small time dealers, but by finding the source of the drugs, and the kingpins behind their distribution. Practically every scene alternates between their two stories, which both follow the flow of the story.

Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington, was the protege of a great black mob boss, who learned so much from the Italian mob. The big difference between Italian mobs and Black mobs was that Italian mobs had order and structure, while Black mobs were just full of rogue morons who ran around, shooting people up because they wanted to be cool. When Frank’s boss mysteriously passes away, he decided to run the mob the way he wants to, with order and structure, just like the Italians. He decided that, during the middle of the Vietnam war, he would actually go there himself, and purchase pure herion, package it as “Blue Magic”, and sell it for half the price of the other druglords, despite being twice as powerful. Richie Roberts, performed by Fightin’ Round the World Russell Crowe, is the only honest cop in the corrupt system of the NYPD. Because of his dedication to the force ahead of his family, along with his tendency to sleep with other women, he’s going through divorce proceedings with his wife. He did things many cops of his time and place wouldn’t. He turned in one million dollars found in the backseat of a car that he could have easily kept for himself.

The story starts off in a great way, that explains the little details while still keeping the audience entertained. See, it introduces itself comically, yet descriptive in the same way. It’s not presented with just mild humor, either. Any person who saw only the first quarter of the movie would think it was a comedy. One of the best scenes is when Frank Lucas is talking to his family in a diner, when he sees someone outside in a group of other people. He tells his family he’d be right be back, and goes to see the man. He asks for money the man owes him, and when the man refuses, Frank threatens him with a pistol. The man says that Frank wouldn’t dare shoot him while there were so many people around. That’s right when Frank simply caps him in the head. After the comedic introduction, the story shifts straight into drama, when Richie Roberts’ elite squad is cracking down, and Frank Lucas family continues to fuck him over by being completely stupid. After that, it’s pure action. Need I say more about that? Afterwards, it ends in a combination of drama with some humor here and there. What I particularly enjoy is the resolution, how the two protagonists confront eachother face to face, and yet both of them are neither wrong or right, and are still both good people.

What makes the story stand out so much are the characters themselves. Frank Lucas has to be one of my favorite mob bosses of all time because of his depiction in this movie. While any normal person can tell that he’s incredibly smart and knows exactly what he’s doing, he still acts like a normal person, and speaks like any other African American of the time. He represents what a black mob boss should be, but doesn’t rub his success in anyone’s face. When he talked business with his connection in Vietnam, he remained professional, yet still managed to fit in slang. Not only that, but he never thought twice about killing someone, but he always knew when it was a good idea or a completely moronic spurt of his own anger. Richie Roberts, while not as interesting as Frank Lucas, is still a rather cool character. Despite his cliche role as a good cop in a corrupt system, he still isn’t a completely honest person. The two halves of his life are his family and his job, and balancing them wasn’t easy. That’s why he decided to stick with just his job. His story revolves around catching the drug lord behind Blue Magic, and going through divorce proceedings. It’s apparent through the way he constantly cheated on his wife that he never really cared too much about her, but he did care about his son, which is the only reason why he didn’t want her to leave.

The ambiance sucks you in through it’s 1970’s feeling and noir-esc tones. It’s extraordinary way of introducing the plot through comedy and the glorification of Frank Lucas, as well as the degeneration of Richie Roberts, is just plain entertaining. I give a high reccomendation to American Gangster, since you pretty much have to see it!

Posted in Movies